Leadership - Following The Money For The Wrong Reasons

In Afghanistan the U.S. is making yet another attempt to curb corruption in the Afghan national police. The most effective Taliban weapon against the police is money. Bribes are not the only problem the police have. There are other forms of corruption like senior officials stealing much of the millions of dollars given to the Afghan government to pay and maintain the police. Hundreds of millions of those dollars have disappeared, leaving police in many parts of the country unpaid, unfed, without fuel and ammo and worst of all, cursed with wretched medical care if they are wounded in action. For the cops, it’s too often all about the money.

 

Lower ranking police not only demand bribes, but also steal or extort cash from innocent people they threaten with arrest. The Taliban have found that the police will for the right price back off from arresting the guilty or carrying out raids. The police will even sell you weapons, ammunition, and information. Too many police never miss an opportunity to steal. The traffic police are considered the worst. Not only will they frequently stop motorists and demand bribes but they will seize cars for the least infraction and later release the vehicle to its owner with most of its parts missing. The presence of U.S. troops or advisors can prevent overt acts of corruption by the police but the corruption is endemic in Afghanistan. It’s the great curse that keeps the country poor and dangerous. It is the main reason why Afghanistan is still the poorest and most dangerous country in Eurasia.

 

A year ago a new police anti-corruption unit was set up with punishment powers consisting of specific actions commanders could take against misbehaving subordinates (firing, reassignment). In the last year hundreds of corrupt cops have been found out and punished this way. The system was recognition that prosecuting dirty cops is often ineffective because the corrupt courts make this virtually impossible. This is a major problem for the senior commanders caught stealing millions of dollars. In effect, they cannot be punished, or get only a few months in jail and keep most of the millions they took. 

 

Last year some four percent of the 125,000 police were formally charged with corruption. The actual number is several times higher but it’s difficult to get enough proof to change a policemen. The corrupt cops protect each other and will threaten civilian accusers and witnesses with violence or death. 

 

A growing number of senior Afghan officials and tribal leaders are speaking out on how important it is to curb the corruption. This problem is causing more anger and unrest around the country as local warlords steal (via extortion or outright theft) large amounts of the foreign aid. Some of this money goes to hiring more gunmen, who in turn terrorize the population to prevent any organized resistance to the local warlord. This is how the Taliban operates and these Islamic radicals are seen as just another bunch of corrupt thugs. Alas, being a greedy thug has long been admired in Afghanistan, although not by the victims. Because there’s so much more money in Afghanistan the last decade (foreign aid, drug profits, and more economic activity) there is more to steal and a growing number of ambitious and thuggish Afghans are doing just that. The foreigners, and many Afghans, recognize that, in the 21st century, this traditional culture of corruption is an impediment, not a recipe for success. In Afghanistan tradition is killing the future.

Vehicles ready to fight faster with new shields

A new collapsible turret shield could provide Marine gunners with the same level of protection as traditional shields, while speeding ship-to-shore assaults and streamlining transport of armored vehicles aboard amphibious ships.

Turret shields have saved untold lives in Iraq and Afghanistan by protecting exposed gunners from bomb fragments and small-arms fire. But the behemoth pieces of armor add several feet to the height of Humvees, MRAPs and Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, and must be removed for most shipboard transport.

That puts a kink in amphibious operations, according to defense industry executives and Marine officials with Program Executive Office Land Systems, headquartered at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va. Developers are working to procure a collapsible shield that will remain installed during transport and be compatible with lethal and non-lethal weapons, said Lt. Col. Mike Burks, the Corps’ program manager for light tactical vehicles, during an advance brief to industry, held in early May in Norfolk, Va.

The Marine Corps Transparent Armored Gun Shield - Reducible may fit the bill, according to executives at BAE Systems, the shield’s maker.

With standard shields installed, “vehicles [cannot] be stored in low-bay storage,” said Justin Stone, the shield’s program manager. That creates problems for amphibious operations. Often, the only solution is to remove the shield for transport, a process that requires heavy-lifting machinery, ample space and several hours to complete. Once in theater, the shields must be re-installed.

But the new gun shields can be left on the vehicles and reduced or erected using a standard socket and ratchet set, a process that takes less than an hour, according to Greg Smith, a BAE program manager familiar with the shield.

The new shield also allows vehicles to be transported on aircraft with low clearance, Stone said. In its collapsed state, with the sides folded down, the new shield adds just 6 inches of height to a vehicle, which means it can remain installed even on deployment with Marine Expeditionary Units.

Once the vehicle exits a cramped storage area, the shield can be erected in landing craft, giving Marines protection as soon as they hit the beach.

The collapsible shield was first developed by BAE Systems in January 2011 and unveiled at the Modern Day Marine expo in September at Quantico. Two prototypes were delivered to Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., in March to undergo rigorous testing. If all goes well, the Corps could award a contract by the second quarter of fiscal year 2014, according to plans laid out at this year’s advance briefing to industry.

MEB troops to get prestigious valor award

About 28,000 U.S. and coalition forces who fought a thriving insurgency in Afghanistan in 2009 and 2010 under the command of a Marine expeditionary brigade will receive the prestigious Presidential Unit Citation, Marine Corps Times has learned.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has approved the PUC for personnel who served under Marine Expeditionary Brigade-Afghanistan from May 29, 2009, to April 12, 2010, for “outstanding performance in action against enemy forces,” said Maj. Shawn Haney, a spokeswoman for the Marine Corps Awards Branch, out of Quantico, Va. The award is considered the unit-level equivalent of the Navy Cross, second only to the Medal of Honor in recognizing heroism in combat.

MEB-Afghanistan is credited with launching a broad offensive against Taliban insurgents in Helmand, Farah and Nimroz provinces. The unit “conducted the most holistic counterinsurgency campaign since the Coalition presence in Afghanistan began in 2001,” according to the PUC citation signed by Mabus and obtained by Marine Corps Times.

The unit was commanded by Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson and overseen by 2nd MEB, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C. Nicholson is now a two-star general, and serves as the senior military assistant to Ashton Carter, the deputy secretary of defense.

It marks the first time that a Marine-led unit has been awarded the PUC since early in the Iraq war, when the actions of I Marine Expeditionary Force (Reinforced), out of Camp Pendleton, Calif., during and shortly after the initial invasion were recognized.

Marine officials said a complete list of MEB units authorized to wear the blue, yellow and red-striped PUC ribbon will be announced in a forthcoming Marine administrative message.

The major subordinate elements included Regimental Combat Team 3, RCT-7, Marine Aircraft Group 40, Combat Logistics Regiment 2, and the brigade’s headquarters group. Marines comprised the bulk of the MEB’s forces, but there also are U.S. soldiers, airmen and sailors, coalition forces, and Navy Department civilians who will be recognized, Haney said.

The MEB arrived in Afghanistan in spring 2009 as the U.S. grew its military footprint in the southern part of the country to take on deeply entrenched Taliban fighters in a countryside checkered with rolling poppy fields. The citation highlights two offensives in particular: Khanjar and Moshtarak, bloody offensives in Helmand province that expelled insurgents from areas where they had been deeply entrenched.

In Operation Khanjar, some 4,000 Marines and 650 Afghan soldiers assaulted sections of Garmser, Khanashin and Nawa districts in July 2009. The name of the operation translates roughly to “Strike the Sword.” Units involved in the offensive include 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines, and 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, both out of Lejeune; and 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, out of Pendleton.

In Operation Moshtarak, more than 15,000 U.S., British, French, Canadian and Afghan troops assaulted the Marjah section of Helmand in February 2010. They faced stiff initial resistance, and suffered multiple casualties due to a network of improvised explosive devices and snipers employed by the Taliban.

Fallen Marine to receive Navy Cross

The ferocious fighting that the men of 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, encountered during their 2010-11 deployment to Afghanistan with Regimental Combat Team 2 — and the valor with which they fought — has been hailed yet again with an award for “extraordinary heroism” in combat.

Sgt. Matthew T. Abbate is the latest leatherneck with the Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based “Darkhorse” battalion to be honored with the coveted Navy Cross. He was cited for his “bold and decisive leadership” while leading his scout-sniper section through a hellish ambush in Sangin district on Oct. 14, 2010.

Abbate was killed in combat just six weeks after that battle, on Dec. 2, 2010. He was 26. His survivors include his young son, Carson, and family in the Fresno, Calif., area.

Abbate was later nominated for a posthumous award of the Navy Cross, and Navy Secretary Ray Mabus approved the medal this month, according to spokeswoman Pamela Kunze, who provided a copy of the approved award citation.

Abbate and his scout-snipers were patrolling Sangin’s northern green zone when Taliban fighters and insurgents attacked the Marines. The squad didn’t know it but they were in the midst of a minefield. Two Marines and the Navy corpsman hit improvised explosive devices “in rapid succession,” according to the citation. Abbate quickly reacted.

“With the squad leader incapacitated, and the rest of the patrol either wounded or disoriented, Sergeant Abbate took command,” the citation states. “With total disregard for his own life, he sprinted forward through the minefield to draw enemy fire and rallied the dazed survivors. While fearlessly firing at the enemy from his exposed position, he directed fires of his Marines until they effectively suppressed the enemy, allowing life-saving aid to be rendered to the casualties.”

As the medical evacuation helicopter was inbound, Abbate swept the landing zone for explosives, but the patrol again had to duck enemy fire. Still, the sergeant persevered.

“Realizing that the casualties would die unless rapidly evacuated, Sergeant Abbate once again bravely exposed himself to enemy fire, rallied his Marines and led a counter attack that cleared the enemy from the landing zone, enabling the helicopters to evacuate the wounded,” according to the citation.

Abbate’s infantry battalion carved its own storied place in Marine Corps history when it battled insurgents in the 2004 Battle of Fallujah in Iraq, one of 3/5’s three combat tours in Iraq. Darkhorse saw combat just as intense and deadly in Afghanistan, losing 25 men in battle, including nine over a four-day period in October 2010.

Mabus is expected to present the Navy Cross — which ranks second only to the Medal of Honor for Marines and sailors — to Abbate’s family at an award ceremony later this year.

Russia ready to broaden cooperation with Afghanistan

Now that the dirty work and the real fighting has been done, illegal Russian President & Communist Adolf Putin and his Communist thugs attempt to move in.

With the US-led war in Afghanistan hitting the rails, Russia is ready to lend a helping hand on the economic and security fronts, President Vladimir Putin told Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Beijing on Thursday.

Given Russia’s own lengthy experience in Afghanistan, a country that has been dubbed ‘the graveyard of empires,’ Putin sees an opportunity for mutually beneficial cooperation.

"I am talking about the possibility of rebuilding what was done by the former Soviet Union, as well as new projects," the Russian leader said. Russia is willing to continue to provide security assistance to Afghanistan, he added.

"Afghan servicemen undergo training in Russia, and we are ready to assist in every possible way in the process of forming and strengthening the Afghan security and armed forces," Putin said.

The Russian President also mentioned other areas of cooperation between the two states.

"Our humanitarian cooperation is proceeding well,” he said. “Afghan students study in Russia, and whenever there is a particularly critical situation our Emergencies Situations Ministry steps in."

Russia also assists Afghanistan through an air-supply corridor that NATO forces use to deliver non-military supplies into the war-torn Central Asian country.

Meanwhile, Putin extended his congratulations to Karzai on Afghanistan receiving observer status in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) during the course of a two-day session of the SCO Council of the heads of state, which closed in the Chinese capital on Thursday.

Moscow has good reason to be concerned about the situation in Afghanistan. Aside from the obvious export of terrorism, the country is also notorious for its export of opium, the raw material of heroin, which is increasingly finding its way into Russia’s inner cities.

There are 5 million drug addicts in Russia and up to 100,000 Russian citizens die of drug-related illnesses each year, according to the Federal Drug Control Service.

Afghanistan has been the theater of war for Coalition forces, as well as the Taliban and al-Qaeda since October 7, 2001 when the United States a military offensive in retaliation for the events of Sept. 11.

The War in Afghanistan, which is United States' longest running war, has resulted in an estimated 15,000 civilian deaths.

UK troops may stay in Afghanistan beyond 2014 - official

Plans for a compete Western pull out from Afghanistan seem to be drifting with Britain saying a small number of its soldiers may remain in the country beyond the 2014 NATO withdrawal deadline.

­A senior UK government official has said ahead of the NATO summit in Chicago that the soldiers will stay in the country to fight terrorism, Reuters reports. This is the first time has Britain indicated that troops, other than a training contingent, could remain. The official spoke on the condition that his anonymity was preserved.

This comes as the US President Barack Obama and Afghan leader Hamid Karzai signed a partnership deal cementing US support for Afghanistan and allowing Washington to keep troops there after 2014.

The British official stressed that the UK will not remain in a combat role in Afghanistan beyond the deadline but did not rule out possibility that some troops may stay. "The majority of forces that remain in Afghanistan will be in a training and mentoring role," he said on Saturday. "But I wouldn't rule out a small number of forces playing a counterterrorism role if needed. This would be in keeping with how we are working to protect ourselves from the terrorism threat emanating from other parts of the world, such as the Arabian Peninsula."

Britain, which currently has the second largest foreign contingent in Afghanistan after the US, has not yet set out plans for how many troops it will withdraw in 2013 and 2014. It earlier said that some 120 British troops will remain to help train Afghan officers.

The NATO summit kicks off in Chicago on Sunday and is expected to be dominated by Afghanistan.

US officials had earlier said that as many as 20,000 American troops may remain after the combat mission ends, but that is still to be negotiated.The United States has about 88,000 troops in the war-torn country. An additional 40,000 coalition forces remain from other natio